Television programs follow a time-based script; i.e., an interval of program content followed by an interval of commercial (non-program) content. The program and non-program content are further subdivided into smaller intervals, such as thirty-second commercials and fifteen second commercials, for example. Some program content cannot be pre-arranged, such as live news coverage and live sporting events. However, these are exceptions to most television broadcasts, and even live sporting events use some "triggers" to allow for intervals of non-program content, and within these intervals the relative relationships between national and local content are known by prior agreement.
The vast majority of programming is well structured in that an absolute time for various content intervals are known by prior agreement; for example, a game show has well-known intervals of the game interspersed with commercial intervals. The national network source provides an absolute time reference that is used by the local affiliates to coordinate their local production with the national programming.
Today, local affiliate networks who receive broadcast television material from a national source can insert local advertisements and programming at certain time slots during re-transmission of the broadcast material. The selected time slots were portions in the broadcast material where the national source inserted a "video black" background which is easy to find. Thus, the local affiliates are able to select the time slots where they can insert local advertisement and programming. Further, for pre-recorded programs, the local affiliates can pre-sell time because they know which time slots are apportioned to local content.
Television networks have begun displaying non-television associated information with associated television programs. While associated information might be displayed on a television monitor, it is not television information because it does not represent motion images per a broadcast standard such as the North America Television Standard Committee (NATSC) recommended format.
Transmitting associated information can be achieved through many methods, such as alternate networks (e.g., telephones), alternate broadcast carriers (e.g., radio), or within the television signal itself. One method to send the associated data within the television signal itself is to use the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI), a time interval during which no active video information is being sent. Television networks have begun providing viewers with associated information to augment their television programming through Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) Web pages. Television networks are encoding HTML web pages into open data channels of broadcast media. For example, the Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) of television broadcast signals are used by some networks to encode HTML web pages relating to specific programming. This allows the television network to deliver web pages containing relevant information relating to a news report, television show, or advertisements directly with the news report, television show, or advertisement. Intel IntercastTm is an example of such a system.
Viewers receiving the television broadcast from their personal computers demodulate the encoded signals in the VBI and view the HTML web page with an Internet browser. The viewers may connect to hyperlinks on the broadcasted web pages to obtain additional information by using an Internet service provider to access other available links. The HTML web pages broadcasted by the television networks allow viewers to combine the interactivity of a computer, the programming of television, and the worldwide information resources of the Internet.
It should be recognized that with today's methods for determining when local advertising can be inserted to the national content provides an important revenue means to the local affiliate. Local affiliates would like to determine when a national source is broadcasting a web page, how many web pages are being broadcast at a time, and what the content of the web pages are in advance for its own marketing and editing purposes. Without some method to control the associated information, the local affiliate has no incentive to pass the associated information nor to contribute local content to it, thus limiting the acceptance and widespread use of associated information.
Thus, a method and apparatus for scripting broadcast data relating to television programs and web pages is needed.